Practicum Week

Being sick during Practicum week has not been ideal... We're teaching three hours a day, to twenty-five bright-eyed, excited teenagers who have looked forward to learning from "the foreigners," and, of course, receiving scented [!] certificates at the end of the week that prove they've completed an 'íntensive week of study of the English language.' These students are packed with energy, and expect you to be too, regardless of whatever illness chooses to ail you at the most inconvenient of times.

Sunday night came around and I started to feel kind of funny... Stomach ache, cramps, the usual sorts of feelings you experience when you're about to get the flu. I wasn't too worried about it, as I assumed I just ate something that didn't quite agree with me. I usually have a pretty tough stomach and so can handle unpleasant feelings without much issue... However, this time was no ordinary time. I went to bed and, ahem, to put it delicately, had intestinal issues throughout the night. Thinking I just needed to let it pass, I tried to ignore it, grin and bear it, and not take medicine as I thought that'd just stop things up rather than help. "Lape t'nam!" my sister would encourage me, (take medicine!), but, being stubborn as I am, I refused, only to wake up the next morning, bleary eyed and miserable, to say "Howie chooh boa..." (still sick stomach) to my sister as we met on the stairs.

After five straight days of this, you will be happy to know, I caved to my illness, finally recognizing that, evidently, my immune system couldn't go this one alone, and at the PC medical director's consent, started to take antibiotics. And, miraculously, I'm feeling loads better! Amazing what modern medicine can do. We decided I probably had a bacterial infection, which could've been acquired a million different ways, and wouldn't have gone away on its own.

So, sorry for the long, drawn-out story about my ill health, but unfortunately that's pretty much consumed my week. In every other way besides my actual physical condition, practicum was great. I loved our kids; they had so much energy and were so enthusiastic about everything we did. The first three days when I was teaching with two other PCTs, we played a lot of games, decorated the classroom to our liking (a huge map of the U.S. when we talked about where we're from, with a true-to-size Cambodia off to the side so the students could see the contrast; pumpkins, spiders, and ghosts for our Holidays lesson; and a disassembled body for our body/health lesson), and could pretty much do whatever we wanted... This was a blast for us, and the kids loved it, but it was totally unrepresentative of what our classses will actually be like. Also, our class did always seemed to be on the brink of chaos...

The final three days were more true to form, when we were working with our Cambodian co-teacher. Luckily, our co-teacher, So Kim, was great. She was not only not drunk (yay!), but also fairly receptive to changing things up when we wanted to, and not only using the EFC (English for Cambodians), which most of us are not entirely wild about...

So that was a lot of text, and no pictures (sorry about that!), as well as a lot of griping. More exciting news to come very soon. We find out where our permanent sites will be in two weeks, and will get to travel to them to meet our families and explore our new environments for three or four days soon after. I will keep updating as things progress!

Don't forget to let me know what all of YOU are doing! Not only so that I know who is actually reading this (which I am very curious about), but also so that I have some idea of what's going on back home. I love to read about anything you're doing, so please don't think anything is too boring or mundane to share. (Leah, reading an e-mail from a friend, Oh my God... And then she ate oreos? While watching 90210? Fascinating...)

<3

One of the training villages where PCTs are currently staying is called "Kirivong." It is by far the most scenic of our villages, so last weekend, a group of twelve of us from Traing decided to pile onto a romo to get there, which is basically a moto with a wagon attached to it, used to transport way too many people at a time from place to place. We had to get off and push it at one point after it rained...

It took about an hour to go 40 km (about 25 miles), but once there, we met up with some of the other volunteers who live in the village and began a hike up the mountain. The path was long, with an intense two flights of stairs at the end, but it was worth it to see the view of Kirivong from one side of the landing, and Vietnam from the other.

Hey! That's Vietnam!

Just as we got to the landing, it started to rain. Then again, when we got to the bottom of the mountain, it started to rain. It felt really refreshing, and we were graced with better luck than the group of volunteers who came down after us; they had to descend the mountain while it was still raining (not the safest when the stairs you're going down are covered with a thin layer of moss). One of the volunteers had her shoe break and had to hike down with one bare foot.

When we'd finally assembled our whole group and the rain had let up, we crammed twenty-five people into one van (yes, we really did that. No, I don't know how), and traveled a few K to see Kirivong's waterfall, which, although sort of pitiful in reality, still offers a shady haven with its many hammocks, plus the added bonus (is that redundant?) of Angkor beer and banana chips. :-)

All in all, it was a great day. We were all exhausted and happy on the ride home. And this was our view:

This upcoming week is practicum, which means that we'll be co-teaching classes together in a Cambodian classroom, with students that are apparently sort of just rounded up off of the streets and asked to be our guinea pigs, since school isn't actually in session right now- it's their summer until September. I am excited to co-teach with my peers, since we get a lot of freedom as to what the curriculum is. For example, we're doing a whole day on holidays, where we talk about Halloween in comparison to Pchum Ben, a Cambodian holiday in October which celebrates ancestors. One of us is dressing up and we're going to "trick or treat" with plai-mein, this eyeball-looking fruit that we're going to exploit with the most grotesque of details... It's going to be great.

I am a little more nervous for co-teaching with a Cambodian counterpart, which is going to happen Thursday through Saturday. I've heard horror stories about teachers showing up intoxicated to teach... I am hoping that won't be my situation, and that my teacher will extremely receptive to my ideas and open to moving away from teaching the lesson straight out of the book. Hey a girl can dream, right?

So, to tie up this blog post with something completely irrelevant, but warm and fuzzy nonetheless: A puppy!

This is our Peace Corps puppy at the market, who resides at our favorite place to get coffee in the morning. Yes, we have dubbed him "our" puppy, and taken it upon ourselves to modify his name from "Chuh" in Khmai, to "Chuck" in English. Imperialism at its best, my friends.

Keep it coming with the comments! I love to hear what you think of my stories (i.e. if they're putting you to sleep...), as well as what's going on at home. Also, feel free to keep me updated on pop culture in America (Hannah, remember what happened when I was gone in Italy for a year? I became a cultural nincompoop and basically couldn't communicate in any social circles for at least six months) I just heard the new Lady Gaga song... Pretty country. Thoughts?

Week Two

This is a view of the rice fields near my house at dusk. Despite the incessant "Hello!"s from kids/teenagers/old men and looks of disbelief or disgust as I huff and puff by in my bright yellow shirt and spandex, running has been a good way for me to unwind after a day full of four hours of intense language study and then four more hours of training for English teaching.

Had a few moments worth sharing this week. Among them, earlier in the week it was my host dad's birthday, so my sister who lives in Phnom Penh came down with her husband to celebrate with us. Living in Phnom Penh, and working at a restaurant that caters specifically to foreigners, she speaks English very well. Even just living in a village a week, it was kind of a shock to interact with her and be exposed to her "city ways," by which I mean: the fact that she drinks beer, has long, brassy hair, and has two bedazzles in her front teeth...(!)  Her husband's name is Mr. Bea (Mr. Two in Khmai); he works at a Karaoke bar in Phnom Penh. (!!)

My host dad has taking a real shining to my electric mosquito racket (Peace Corps provided). The other night, we were sitting in the living room on the floor watching TV after dinner, and I brought it downstairs because the mosquitos were driving me crazy. My host dad asked to see it, and took it upon himself to act as the Mosquito Killer of the room, creeping around the room on all fours swatting at every patch of air that could contain a mosquito... He did this for about an hour. It was more entertaining to me than whatever soap opera we were trying to watch that I didn't understand anyway. (I think it was actually a Japanese soap that we watch a lot, with lots of fighting and some magic and green powder...?)

Yesterday at lunch, my host sister was looking through my dictionary (everyone in my family loves to look through it so they take turns), and she kept asking me for the pronunciation of various words and showing me pertinent words in Khmai. At one point she looked up at me from the dictionary and said "I like yous." Made my day.

Well, folks, I have 4% battery left and need to stop by the market for some fruit before I head home to Traing for the evening. Please, don't be too shy to leave feedback, whether it be through an e-mail or in the comments section (I think I've enabled it now so that you can comment; sorry about that). I'd love to hear what you're up to, or what you think about what's going on here.

Love to you.

Sua-s'day! (Hello!)

Today is a hub-site day, where all of the volunteers in the three training villages meet up in Takeo where we have training sessions together, and then get an hour or so of free time before we go back home. Four days living with my host family has seemed like an eternity, and like no time at all at the same time. My family is really sweet; they are rice farmers, so I live basically in the middle of a rice paddy. The sunsets are incredible! I have an older host sister who is 24, a "bong sarai," whose name I won't write here because phonetically, I wouldn't know where to begin with it. A little shy at first, but she's starting to open up more to me. She's is very patient with my Khmai, especially when I ask the same thing multiple times! She's also helped me a lot when I've been having a rough time with something. I've never before known the extent to which eye contact, miming, and intention to understand can help convey a message. Also, I'm pretty sure she speaks more English than she's letting on... Sometimes when I am really struggling with something in Khmai, she'll softly say it in English with a coy smile at which point I cock my head and remark that I think she's holding out on me... She doesn't reply to that. My host brother is kind of crazy. He's three and has a few very sharp, pointed teeth, which he uses to mash up tiny bones in the chicken we're eating, or fruit with a hard shell... At first he kind of terrified me, and I'm pretty sure I terrified him, but we're starting to warm up to each other. We bonded over gummy worms the other night, and playing catch with a fruit in the living room. I think he still doesn't quite know what to make of me, which is totally understandable- I am a giant barong (foreigner) with pale skin and very white teeth. If I were in his position, I'd probably be a little skeptical too.

My host mom and dad are great. At dinner, I'll point to things we are eating, or mime something and ask how to say it in Khmai, and after they tell me, they'll ask "Anglais ta-mai?" (How in English?) It's a nice exchange. Often my pronunciation in Khmai will be way off, so they'll say it multiple times for me to repeat, or their pronunciation of the English word will be way off, so I'll say it multiple times for them to repeat in English, and when they finally get it and I respond with a "Good!" or "Perfect!" the dad will get this self-satisfied look on his face and nod his head with his eyes closed as if to say "I knew it all along." I love it.

The food so far has been interesting. I tried to say that I was vegetarian when I first met my host sister at the Wat, where we had our welcoming ceremony, but something was lost in translation because the first meal I had with my host family had ants and someone's lung in it. (By someone's I mean a chicken's, I think, not a person's, I hope.) Unfortunately, I was really hungry when I started eating, so I didn't really notice until about four bites in that what I was eating actually had ants in it, so I had to recognize that it really wasn't that bad. When I did notice, I was sort of horrified at first, of course, and had to struggle to keep it down, but I tried to not make a fuss and just eat around the parts that were less palatable than everything else... The fruit here is great! And the veggies are good too. Luckily, I have not had to eat a fertilized chicken/duck egg yet, which some of the other volunteers have, nor have I been served up a fried tarantula....

There is, however, a tarantula in my outhouse, which has been interesting. He mainly comes out at night, so when I go for the last time in the evening, I'm usually nervously looking over my shoulder at the corner he inhabits. He was out this morning, which was sort of unusual, so I took my bucket bath with one eye on his corner. Tarantulas are actually thought to be pretty docile here, but I'm not yet convinced. Maybe eating one will help me get over my fear of spiders?

So despite all the trials I've encountered thus far- being uncomfortably hot and sweaty the majority of the time, not yet knowing the language, spilling my chamber pot on myself on the way to the outhouse on the first day (yeah, that happened), and everything else here and there and in between, I'm having a really great time, and am enjoying getting to know some of the other volunteers, and starting to learn more about Cambodian culture. People really are so kind here, and eager to know you and just spend time with you.

More soon! Li hai :) (Bye!)

XO